


Look Out it's Gonna Snow!

by Purplefern



Series: Mutation World Stories [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Body Horror, Commercialism - Freeform, I Tried, I'm Bad At Titles, Kinda, Materialism, Mutation, Satire, Well hopefully, Written for a Class, can you tell i work in a grocery store?, mutation world series-ish, satire is hard, they share continuity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 02:23:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17377802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purplefern/pseuds/Purplefern
Summary: The Event left thousands of people gradually mutating into half-animal, half-human creatures. So, naturally, the stores are going to be packed.





	Look Out it's Gonna Snow!

His first thought, as his bones reshaped and his muscles warped, was that he would really have to go to the store and buy some dog food now. He limped towards his cabinet on still changing legs, one with a human foot and the other turning digitigrade, and sighed as he regarded the store of food unfit for his growing muzzle. He really did have to go shopping. He knew that the supermarket would be crowded-- as they always were when disaster striked, but it had to be done straightaway. So much for relaxing with a book on a Sunday afternoon, and after the work week had already been so strenuous, too. And so, after pulling on a pair of khakis to his best ability-- ripping a tear in the back for his newly grown tail, and being careful not to get the fur on his sensitive abdomen stuck in the zipper -- he left for the store.  The thought occurred to him as he left that should really buy some extra shampoo as well, he saw earlier that it might be on sale.

Wincing as his other foot stretched out with a crackle and a pop to match its mate, he got out of his car in the packed store parking lot, and pushed against the flow of exiting people to grab a cart. He felt his newly pointed ears flicker at the chaotic noise of the store, the sounds of checker aisles dinging, crowds of people talking about different things, and the occasional sound of something falling onto the ground. With the epidemic of mutation spreading across the country, only one in a handful of the crowds of shoppers were fully human. Many of the frantically shopping crowds were the result of the Event, half-human, half-animal, with seemingly no rhyme or reason to who changed or what they changed into. Of course, a lot of the small number of humans in the check-out line had carts filled with various meats or pet foods, so they were probably getting prepared. Maybe, he thought cynically, if he had been that prepared and went shopping beforehand, he wouldn’t have gotten stuck shopping with all the rest of these panicked crowds.

The pet food aisle was (predictably) a mess. It seemed like just about everyone within twenty miles had made an emergency run that day. The shelves were bare except for some bags of the more expensive brands (“premium organic grain-free!”) and the heavy ones on top that few could reach.Some of the bags had broken open, and were left abandoned and uncleaned on the shelf.  Slim pickings. Sighing, he put a heavy bag of Purina from the top shelf into his cart, and continued onto the next pet aisle to grab some shampoo.

As he walked past the rows of toys and treats to get to the shampoo, they all started to look and smell like an amazing idea. Well, he thought, maybe one pack of pig’s ears. Oooh, but they were on sale! Buy two get one free. Might as well grab another pig’s ear. And maybe some of those rawhide twists. He sniffed the package briefly to judge if he would like them or not, and then threw them in the cart alongside the food. Right. So what was he was getting again? His attention kept wandering. There were so many things stacked up on the shelves. His ears perked as he remembered what he was here for. Shampoo, that was it. Maybe he should have made a list, but he had only come in for a couple of emergency things.

By the time he reached check out, his physical changes were complete, and he stood on his toes, his body covered in rough brown fur, and his human face had stretched into a stout muzzle. It was amazing to him how many different smells there were. Every person smelled unique. And there were so many species in line. There was only one lane open since most of the checkers must have called in sick, and the line stretched back almost into the aisles. Oh well. More time to smell. Every scent needed to be investigated. The others in line didn’t mind, or pretended not to. His turn now. Soon he’d have all this good food. And pig’s ears. His tail wagged against his will at the thought. And shampoo, too. Not as exciting.

“52.48 is your total”.   

The deer cashier’s voice brought him out of his wanderings. Fifty dollars? How’d it rack up that quickly?  Man, being a dog was going to be expensive if this is what four items was going to cost him.Why was dog food so expensive anyway? Wasn’t it just corn and low quality meat? He wasn’t even paying for expensive steaks and stuff like some of these others were. Upset by the more expensive than planned for trip, he paid for his stuff and left. The cashier’s harried “have a good day” went ignored.   

The trip back home was difficult. Every sound attracted his attention, and with his window rolled down, so did every smell. He kept finding his head turning away from the road to catch all the smells that were being carried by the breeze.  He felt full of too much energy, like he had drunk three cups of coffee, and it just made it harder and harder to focus on the road.

When he finally got home, he grabbed his groceries and dashed inside far quicker than was necessary. As soon as he slammed the door behind him he tore into the bag of pig’s ears, ripping through the plastic bag with his teeth as he held it in his hands. Without a thought he gnawed on one with fervor, his eyes glazing over as he lost himself in the smoky, meaty goodness. But the treat he had bought soon bored him, so he ripped open the other bag of rawhides. Those got boring soon,too, so he turned his attention to other objects in the room.

Eventually his eyes cleared, and he looked around at the torn and shredded bags, treats, books, and couch. It seemed like he had gotten carried away, and had demolished everything he had just bought.And some of his furniture as well. At least the shampoo looked like it was untouched; but the pig’s ears were crumbs strewed on the floor alongside the plastic remains of the packaging, and the bag of food was scattered across the floor. It looked like he would have to go shopping again.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was a little thing I wrote for a creative writing class. I basically tried to combine two things I was thinking about, the misery of retail work, and mutation, and ended up making this. I'm not sure how well it turned out, this isn't my normal sort of thing. Personally, I feel it might be too heavy handed, especially with my current summary. :/ But, here it is.  
> (I do have more ideas for this particular world I've made, so those might get posted as well some day. We'll see.)  
> Thanks for reading, comment, leave kudos, all that good stuff.


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